Africa Cup of Nations Semi Final Wrap Up: 2.7.08

Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Samuel Eto’o were the big names expected to play a big role in the Africa Cup of Nation semifinals today. But the important names were journeyman Alain Nkong, who scored the only goal as the Cameroon beat Ghana 1-0, and Amr Zaky, who scored two in five minutes as Egypt shocked Cote d’Ivoire with a 4-1 win.

Ghana 0-1 Cameroon

As with the win over Tunisia, it’s difficult to argue Cameroon were the better team here. Ghana had more of the ball and did most of the attacking. But they didn’t score. Most of that was down to Cameroon captain Rigobert Song who took the whole Indomitable Lion thing very seriously and refused to let Junior Agogo or Quincy Owusu Abeyie get the better of him.

With John Mensah suspended, Michael Essien played central defence for Ghana and tussled with Samuel Eto’o for the full 90 minutes. But Ghana missed Essien’s presence in midfield, where he has that ability to just charge forward. Muntari, Annan and young Andre Dede Ayew did nothing wrong and all put in classy midfield displays, but Ghana’s problem all along has been a lack of goals to match their inventiveness in midfield, and that’s what did for them today.

Cameroon’s goal inevitably came from a counter-attack. A long ball from Atouba found it’s way to Alain Nkong, formerly of the Colorado Rapids, now playing for Atlante in Mexico. Not a Euro-based superstar, but a man who’s been around. He layed it back to Eto’o who (free of Essien for once) played an instant return pass to set Nkong through one on one with Richard Kingson to score in the 70th minute.

The all-out Ghana assault for the equalizer never really came. Instead there was last minute insanity from Cameroon’s Andre Bikey. With the clock ticking towards full time and Rigobert Song down injured, Bikey decided to push one of the first aid guys to the ground. I still don’t know why he did it, but Bikey got a red card and will now miss the final.

Highlights below, Bikey’s moment of mentalness even further below:

Cote d’Ivoire 1-4 Egypt

Wow. Though Egypt are the Africa Cup of Nations holders, most non-Egyptians would have predicted a Cote d’Ivoire win here and pointed to the masses of European based talent on the Cote d’Ivoire squad. But that argument fails to recognize the strength of Egyptian football. Though Egypt have a few players based in Europe, the real strength comes from the domestic league, which is where all three of today’s Egyptian goalscorers earn their living.

Ahmed Fathy scored the first in the 12th minute when his shot hit Didier Zokora Salomon Kalou and bounced in. It stayed 1-0 until halftime thanks to some good work by Egyptian keeper Essam El-Hadary to deny Didier Drogba more than once. While El-Hadary was Egypt’s hero, Cote d’Ivoire lost first choice keeper Boubacar Barry to a painful looking groin injury, and had to put their faith in the not-nearly-as-good Stephan Loboue.

Then everything went wild around the hour mark. First Amr Zaky extended Egypt’s lead with a perfectly placed header past Loboue, then Abdul Kader Keita cut it back two minutes later with a long range bomb only for Zaky to score again on the break. When that goal went in Cote d’Ivoire looked devastated. Mohamed Aboutreika finally settled things towards the end when he received a square ball and calmly sidefooted past Lomoue for 4-1 and game over.

Egypt deserved winners and they’ll go on to defende their Africa Cup of Nations crown against Cameroon on Sunday, while Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana will have to settle for a third place playoff.

Here are the highlights:

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